316th Meditation
“In your name they rejoice all day long, by your saving justice they are raised up. You are the flower of their strength, by your favour our strength is triumphant” (Ps 88:17-18).
The heart is filled with great joy when it comes to know our Father as He truly is.
Every time His Name resounds, every time He is spoken well of, every time His works are praised, His mercy is acknowledged and His splendour is sung, our soul exults with joy, because in her – the beloved – love awakens.
She hears her Beloved speak:
“Come then, my beloved, my lovely one, come. For see, winter is past, the rains are over and gone. Flowers are appearing on the earth. The season of glad songs has come, the cooing of the turtledove is heard in our land” (Ct 2:10-12).
And she answers Him:
“Set me like a seal on your heart, like a seal on your arm. For love is strong as Death, passion as relentless as Sheol (…) . Love no flood can quench, no torrents drown. Were a man to offer all his family wealth to buy love, contempt is all that he would gain” (Ct 8:6-7).
The soul that has awakened to love always seeks the presence of God:
“On my bed at night I sought the man who is my sweetheart: I sought but could not find him! So I shall get up and go through the city; in the streets and in the squares, I shall seek my sweetheart” (Ct 3:1-2).
Then “I found my sweetheart. I caught him, would not let him go (…) Do not rouse, do not awaken love until it pleases” (Ct 3:4-5).
In love, we become one with the Father. We forget ourselves and want to live only in Him. His beauty becomes our beauty; His strength becomes our strength. Nothing is more important to us than to proclaim His glory and praise the Beloved.